Bartholina crested or Spider orchid

Family Orchidaceae. It occurs on sandy coastal dunes in the southwestern part of the South African coast. Rare.

Plants up to 7-10 cm tall. Root tubers small, oval. Stem thin, slender, straight, pubescent, reddish toward the top. Leaf single, rounded, pressed to the ground; appears at the beginning of winter and remains alive and green until autumn, until the seed capsules mature. Flower solitary, of an original shape; sepals herbaceous, joining with the base of the lip to form a short tube; the free part of the sepals smooth. Petals straight, sickle-shaped, pale purple or cream-white; the lip rounded, light purple, greenish in the middle, divided into numerous, very thin, linear, long-pointed threads, the ends of which are bent downwards. There are no glands on the threads of the lip (in contrast to another species of this genus - В. ethelae Bolus). Flowers in mid-spring.

Known in cultivation since 1787. Cultivated in the Netherlands. Grown in cool greenhouses in a very light, sandy, old leaf-mold soil with added fern roots. During the formation of the flower stem water plentifully; after the leaves have withered and until the start of the growing season watering is stopped.